


Break

by suallenparker



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-09
Updated: 2014-05-09
Packaged: 2018-01-24 03:05:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1589381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suallenparker/pseuds/suallenparker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Coulson and May take a road trip and May’s exhaustion gets to her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Break

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for everything up to 1x20

You fixed Lola,” Coulson whispered and stared at his beloved car. She looked beautiful underneath the electric light of the secret bunker. No damage to be seen anywhere, not even a scratch. He smiled and ran his hand over the hood. Suddenly he wasn’t as tired anymore. The trip they were about to take would only take them half the time now. Because May fixed his Lola. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

“You’re speechless,” May noted. She stood next to him.

“Yes.”

“You talk too much anyway.” With these words, she picked up both their bags and carried them around to the trunk. She put them away and then went to settle at Lola’s passenger’s seat. She crossed her arms. She raised a brow. And waited.

All the while Coulson was still staring at his car. May did an amazing job! He sighed and looked at her.

“Thank you,” he said.

“Get in the car, Phil.” She raised a brow, but her mouth betrayed her and twitched upwards.

Grinning, he did as told. Chances were he’d go mad soon. Chances were he’d die of his resurrection. Chances were everything would go bad from here. If it got to the worst, he had his gun.

But Lola was fixed because of May. Not everything was broken. He certainly wasn’t. Not yet.

And he had his friend back.

Now May and he would take a drive to get some information from one of his contacts. Five hour tour to it, five hour tour back. It would be easy. He could sense it. They deserved a break and now they would get one. This would be good for them. And on their way back, they’d get waffles. May loved waffles and she certainly deserved some now.

Smiling, he started the car and they drove into the night.

o0o

May fell asleep after two hours. She didn’t catch enough sleep. Neither of them did. He glanced at her through the back mirror. it was dark around them, but Lola granted enough for him to see. She didn’t look peaceful. Just exhausted. Even in her sleep, she frowned. It sobered him.

He wished he could do for her what she had done for him, but there was no comfort he could offer.

He wished she could just fix him like one of her machines. He really didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to leave her.

Her head jerked to the side. “No!” she breathed.

His stomach clenched and his hands tightened around the steering wheel. He had heard her voice like that before.

He checked her face again. Her eyes moved beneath the lids, her brows were raised.

“Melinda.”

“No!” she repeated. Her head moved from side to side.

It broke his heart. He landed Lola as gently as he could and turned of the engine. He kept the lights on and turned on the light in the cockpit as well.

“You’re safe,” he said. They had been through this before. Once. After Bahrain, she came to him one night. She had been so tense. Her shoulders pulled up, her arms pressed to her sides, her hands clenched. Her lips pressed together. She hadn’t said a word. When he had touched her then, she had started to cry. He had held her through the night. The only night he had ever spent in the same bed with her.

He had known before that he loved her, but in that night he had believed that maybe they could save each other. And they had. In so many ways. So very often. He had spent years wishing she would’ve stayed afterwards. He had spent years hoping she’d return to him. She never had.

But he meant a lot to her.

“Phil!” She sounded like a wounded animal. He thought she’d woken up, but no. Her eyes were tight shut. After Bahrain she had mumbled about blood and death. To hear his name was new. And it stung.

“I’m here.” He took her hand.

“Don’t die, don’t die, don’t die …” Her voice broke. She wasn’t dreaming about Bahrain. “Please, Phil, please,” she whimpered.

This was killing him. He hated being part of her nightmares.

“You’re not alone. You’re safe. I’m here.” He had told her all that after Bahrain too. He wanted to hold her, like he had that night but he didn’t want to startle her. More so, he didn’t want her to fight him. Even asleep Melinda May was deadly.

“Phil, please.” Her eyelids fluttered.

“Melinda.” He squeezed her hand.

Gasping, she opened her eyes. They were full of tears. She blinked them away.

“I’m here,” he repeated.

Slowly, her gaze cleared and her eyes focused on his face. She swallowed and straightened up.

He moved his hand to her shoulder and pulled her to him. Hugging her over the center console was awkward, but he needed her close. And she needed him too. It always took him by surprise, but it was true.

She took a deep breath and leaned against him. Her head settled against his shoulder, her arms wrapped around his neck.

“You dream of me.”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry.” He didn’t need to ask for specifics, she already had given him all.

She sighed. “Just don’t die.”

He tried to smile. “Can’t make any promises.”

“I can’t lose you.” She nuzzled against him. “Not again.”

“I’m here now.” He stroked her back and they breathed together. His side started to hurt from his twisted position. He didn’t care.

“You should let go of me,” she said eventually.

“You first.” He ran his hands over her shoulder blades. There was too much death surrounding them. Too much loss. He wasn’t ready yet. And she stayed where she was.

“You mean a lot to me,” she whispered. Then she lifted her head and looked at him. “I need you to know that.”

He nodded. “I’m glad you came back. I need … I need you.”

“I’m not letting you go insane.” She pressed her lips together.

“Melinda.”

“It’s not an option!”

“Okay.” What else could he say?

“If you’d die, I’d never sleep again.” Her voice was quiet but clear. She broke his heart.

“Don’t say that.”

She shook her head. “Two weeks,” she said, “I didn’t sleep for two weeks until they told me you’re alive again.”

She sounded like someone in love. Like she loved him.

“After Bahrain, why didn’t you stay?” He had always wanted to ask that.

“Excuse me?”

“Right after that night. I held you and you cried and then you were just gone. Like nothing happened. Why? I thought -”

“You saw me. I was too broken to …” She pressed her lips together again.

“Now I’m broken.” He swallowed hard.

Her fingers stroked his nape above his collar. “You’re the best person I know,” she said. “And you’re not broken.”

“The T.A.H.I.T.I project -”

“They’re wrong. You were wrong.” She sounded like she was ready to fight. She probably was.

He snorted. “If anybody could scare science into submission, it’s you.”

“Works on Fitzsimmons.” She looked at him deadpan. He smiled. He loved her. They were in such a mess and he was already doomed but he couldn’t help it. He had hope.

“What are we doing here, Melinda?”

“I love you.”

Hearing her say it shocked him. Of course he had hoped for this. Of course. He hadn’t dreamed she’d be this direct.

She blushed and looked away. “You can do whatever you want,” she added, “be with whomever you want. Leave, be mad. I don’t care. Just don’t die. That’s all I want.”

“You need higher standards.” She was incredible.

“Phil.”

“I love you too,” he said. He cradled her face and caressed her cheek with his thumb. “Can I kiss you?” He really wanted to kiss her.

She leaned in and their lips touched. Tentative. Tender. He lost time. He was willing to lose days by kissing her.

She broke away, which was good because he was lacking the will power to.

“We should get going,” she said, her forehead leaned against his. It would be so easy to kiss her again. He needed to focus on something else than her lips quickly.

“On our way back I’m gonna buy you waffles tomorrow,” he said, already imagining the two of them in that little restaurant at the corner. He’d kiss her then.

“Okay.” She smiled.

So he kissed her again. Short. Sweet. “I’m not planning on leaving you,” he said. Letting go of her now was hard enough already but they had to get on their way.

“Good,” she replied. She let go but placed one hand on his thigh while he started the car.

Their break was over. And it had been exactly what he needed.


End file.
